1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of wall construction and more particularly a wall system for providing a waterproof, removable wall panel and panel arrangement for use in wet environments or conditions.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
As was unfortunately made evident due to the flooding caused by “Superstorm Sandy”, in the year 2012, when flooding occurs inside homes and buildings which have wall structures that are finished with drywall, the water from the flooding destroys all the drywall the water comes in contact with, and the water creeps behind the drywall creating wet or at least damp conditions behind the drywall, which can lead to the formation of harmful mold and the like. As a way to handle this water damage problem, it is routine to cut out the wet, damaged portion of the dry wall from the remainder of the wall (such as by cutting away the lower portion of the drywall), and remove the wet, damaged portion of the drywall from the remainder of the wall so as to allow the wall structure behind the drywall to dry and/or be treated for mold prevention/remediation. Then, after the flooded area has been dried and/or treated with mold prevention/remediation methods, replacement drywall portions are cut to match the portions of the drywall that have been removed from the wall structure. The replacement drywall portions are mounted on the wall structure in place of the wet, damaged drywall portions that have been removed. After the installation of the replacement drywall portions, various coats of drywall joint compound and drywall tape are applied to the seams between the replacement drywall panels and between the replacement drywall panels and the original drywall panels that remain on the wall structure adjacent to the newly mounted replacement drywall panels. The drywall joint compound must be allowed to dry, and then replacement drywall and any joints are sanded. When the sanding and finishing of the drywall surface has been completed, the replacement drywall must be coated with a primer and painted.
Replacing wet, damaged drywall is expensive and burdensome. In addition, failure to take remedial steps to replace damaged drywall or replace drywall damaged by water, such as water from a flood, creates not only a visually unpleasing wall, but also creates bad odors and may lead to the formation of dangerous molds which are hazardous to the health of people living or working in the home or business that was damaged by flood waters.
One acknowledgment of wet conditions is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,882,668 B2, which discloses a wall shoe that is placed under the bottom edge of a sheet of drywall such that the drywall is elevated above the floor level. The wall shoe may be installed during construction or thereafter. The wall shoe has channels through the wall shoe to allow the lowest portions of a wall to be dried without removing either the drywall or the wall shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 8,297,015 B2 discloses a system for drying wall cavities that includes a permanently installed wall cavity and filtration system having molded base dry block members that are installed along the base of a wall between the floor and the bottom edge of drywall, gypsum board or other conventional interior wall construction material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,935 relates to providing a common wall between two rooms and discloses a metal stud which on oppositely disposed sides thereof holds a magnetic strip within one or more longitudinal open channels. Corresponding metal strips are secured to the wallboards which in turn are supported on each side of the stud by the magnetic force exerted on the strips in order to support the common wall between two rooms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,370 discloses a demountable partition panel system and method of assembling a wall structure by using removable panels on which magnetic elements or units are provided to mount the panels on a frame of the wall structure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,934 discloses plasterboard mounted to studs according to common practice, there being magnets embedded in the mounted plasterboard, and a surface paneling with magnets is provided so that the surface may be removed from the plasterboard panel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,434 discloses a composite wall panel assembly and method of production.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,950 discloses simulated window pane molding using magnetic elements. U.S. Pat. No. 8,225,562 B2 discloses improved simulated authentic divided-light windows, where an internal muntin grid structure, equipped with multiple neodymium magnets, is sandwiched between the panes of a double-glazed, sealed window pane, and an external muntin grid is removably attached to each side of the sealed window pane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,119 relates to a movable wall or partition assembly having panels magnetically secured to studs by magnetic clips. U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,441 B1 relates to wall modules formed with steel upstanding support modules with integrally formed vertical spaced apart support components with forwardly facing panel support surfaces, and discloses thin, typically flexible panels having strip magnets adhesively bonded to the rearward surface about their periphery. U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,312 relates to a demountable wall assembly, and US Patent Application US 2004/0255539 A1 relates to a wall system that utilizes a u-shaped connector to compressibly hold together vertical support component edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,522 relates to a demountable ceiling molding using magnetic mounting bars that are installed on a wall. US Patent Application no. 2006/0070329 A1 relates to a modular wall paneling system, wall panels and an installation method that utilizes upper and lower rails for panel mounting, for example, to wainscot an existing wall. U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,138 relates to a drywall system where a metallic frame structure utilizes filler strips to secure drywall panels. The filler strips are formed to encompass and bridge gaps between drywall panels. The '138 patent discloses that the filler strips include a planar forward strip mounting a rearwardly extending longitudinally aligned projecting strip with a magnetic strip mounted to a rear end surface of the projecting strip to secure each filler strip to an associated metallic rail.